2018/05/22/(Tue)

Panalpina joins Blockchain in Transport Alliance – BiTA [Forwarder]

Panalpina has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), a forum of leading tech and transportation companies for the development and implementation of blockchain standards in the freight industry. The company sees many advantages of blockchain technology for freight forwarding and logistics operations in general, but also for specific areas such as perishables in particular.

Panalpina has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), bringing over a century of experience in the freight forwarding business into the development of blockchain technology, which has the potential to disrupt the sector.

BiTA is a forum of leading tech and transportation companies for the development and implementation of blockchain standards. Members aim to educate the market on blockchain applications and encourage their use through implementation.

Blockchain creates a digital record of every transaction made in a decentralized and secure way using cryptography.BiTA standards will address how the technology will impact contracts, freight payments, asset maintenance and ownership history, chain of custody of freight, and other issues facing the industry.

“Our goal is to bring together leading companies in the freight and technology industries that have a vested interest in the development of blockchain technology. As an asset-light company with a very long history in the freight forwarding and logistics industry, Panalpina’s contribution will be very valuable,” says BiTA president Chris Burruss.

Blockchain use in freight forwarding and logistics is still in the early adoption phase, but Panalpina is already being approached by vendors, partners and customers inquiring about it.

Twofold approach to integrating blockchain technology

“It is likely that many blockchain clusters will emerge, for example centered around ports and customs authorities, carrier groupings, as well as third-party logistics providers and regional logistics networks. When it comes to using blockchain applications and managing and interacting with all these different clusters, we have chosen a twofold approach that will be coordinated by a new digital innovation unit,” says Ralf Morawietz, chief information officer at Panalpina.

“On the one hand, we will look at ways to integrate blockchain technology in complex core systems in the long-run. Here the focus is clearly on reliability, standardization and partnerships with bigger, established companies. We will also take part in the wider industry discussion in this context,” explains Luca Graf, Panalpina’s head of digital innovation.“On the other hand, we will run pilots and trials using blockchain, likely together with start-ups. The focus here lies on exploration and specific market and customer needs.”

Blockchain benefits

Panalpina sees many advantages of blockchain technology for freight forwarding and logistics operations. One advantage is the better tracking of orders and assets. Because of the decentralized nature of a blockchain, no single entity is in control of the tracking process, which will increase transparency in the supply chain and ultimately improve consumer trust. In the area of perishables, for example, blockchain technology can be used to reliably track products from farms to grocery stores, which allows for very precise and quick reports or recalls.

Other benefits range from better scalability of operations to optimized capacity monitoring and pricing, fewer errors in payment processing and auditing, improved compliance, easier identification of attempted fraud, theft prevention, ease of building trust and gaining real-time feedback from customers.

2018/05/19/(Sat)

Panalpina launches scheduled flights to Querétaro, Mexico [Forwarder]

Panalpina has added QuerétaroInternational Airport (QRO) in Mexico to the “Speedy” loop of its Charter Network, which also connects Mexico City (MEX) and Guadalajara (GDL) with Panalpina’s air freight gateway in Huntsville (HSV), Alabama.

Querétaro’saddition to the regular connections of the Panalpina Charter Network means Panalpina is the only freight carrier to serve three international airports with scheduled flights within and out of Mexico.

Panalpina is also the first and only company to offer a transatlantic flight from Querétaro to London Stansted Airport (STN) in the UK and to Luxembourg (LUX) via Huntsville (see schedule below).

Government representatives, members of the port authority, partners and customers will be present at an event today to celebrate the first scheduled landing of the Spirit of Panalpina at Querétaro International Airport. A customer induction took place yesterday, May 17.

The new Querétaro lane reflects Panalpina’s growth in aerospace and the continuous adaptation of the company’s Charter Network to meet evolving market needs and customer demand in Mexico.

The final decision to accelerate the integration of Querétaro into the Panalpina Charter Network was made at the 2017 Paris Airshow during meetings held with government and private stakeholders.

“Panalpina has been committed to Querétaro for over five years now. We have been working closely with Querétaro airport operatives and government authorities, strategic airline partner Atlas Air, and Huntsville International Airport to build on the continued success of the Network,” says Matthias Frey, global head of the Panalpina Charter Network.

One of the results of this combined effort is the inclusion of Querétaro in the 747-8 airport compatibility list, as the increased wingspan of the 747-8 puts it into ICAO airport design category F.

Panalpina flight schedule between Europe and US / Mexico

Every week, Panalpina’s 747-8F now flies the following transatlantic (Dixie) and Mexico (Speedy) routes:

- LUX to HSV to QRO to GDL to HSV to STN to LUX: 1x (Mexico loop on Fridays, new QRO stop instead of MEX)

- LUX to HSV to MEX to GDL to HSV to STN to LUX: 1x (Mexico loop on Mondays)

- LUX to HSV to LUX: 2x

In addition, Panalpina offers one more transatlantic roundtrip (LUX to HSV to LUX) using a Cargolux full charter, bringing the total number of scheduled transatlantic roundtrips to five.

Bienvenidos a Querétaro

Panalpina has a long-standing history as the market leader in air freight in Mexico with offices opened in 1963 and the first flight of the Panalpina Charter Network taking off in 1990.

“Panalpina’s own scheduled flights connecting the US and Europe with Mexico are a well-known and appreciated product in the Mexican market thanks to a remarkable on-time performance and top-notch equipment,” says Enrico Boehme, Panalpina’s country head of Air Freight Mexico.

Querétaro is located in the Bajio region, Mexico’s fastest growing economic area with key industries such as automotive and manufacturing and one of the largest aerospace industry clusters in the world. The city has many similarities with Huntsville, another engineering and aerospace hub, which hosts NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center among others.

Only last month, Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel and Mexico's president Enrique Pena Nieto opened the world's largest industrial technology fair in Hanover, highlighting the importance of Latin America's second-largest economy, and Querétaro sits right at the center of it.

“Panalpina is a pioneer in the Mexican air freight market and the new scheduled flights to and from Querétaro are another testimony of that. They offer our customers access to our global network, greater flexibility for their supply chains and room to grow. We give local and multinational companies in Mexico the opportunity to export, import and resupply from their worldwide network in a seamless way,” adds Boehme.

Even more flights into Mexico

With 995,900 tons of air freight transported globally, 2017 was a good year for Panalpina. And Mexico had a lot to do with it, not only with scheduled frequencies: of the 100 extra flights Panalpina pre-procured to operate regular charters during the peak season across the globe, 25 were Boeing 747 freighter planes flying into Mexico. So far in 2018, Panalpina has organized eleven ad hoc charters for Mexico and ten more are already scheduled for the next few weeks.

Panalpina also operates an extra transatlantic roundtrip from Luxembourg to Huntsville and back using a Cargolux freighter that, like all of Panalpina’s Huntsville inbound flights, can connect with an exclusive trucking service and ad hoc charters to all the hotspots in Mexico.

“This unique combination of scheduled and ad hoc charter flights, as well as overland services, means that we can efficiently and reliably distribute imported products to Mexico City, Guadalajara, Querétaro, Puebla, Monterrey, San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, and elsewhere,” explains Frey.

Building on a long history in Mexico, investing in its future

While Panalpina’s outbound flights in the late 90s were primarily used for the booming high-tech industry and exponential demand for computer technology in northern Mexico, the now-dubbed “Speedy” lane brought all kinds of machinery and automotive cargo into the country, becoming an important part of the supply chain for the remarkable industrialization Mexico has experienced in the last decades.

But things did not stop there. For example, Panalpina’s transatlantic fixed schedule plays a strategic role for flying perishables out of Guadalajara, ensuring that Mexican fresh produce is safely steered through the Panalpina Perishables Network on the way to its final destination.

“We look forward to expanding the cooperation with our customers in different sectors and are very happy to inaugurate the new Querétaro lane today,” concludes Frey.

2018/05/17/(Thu)

In Q1 2018, A.P. Moller - Maersk had a revenue growth of 30% to USD 9.3bn, 10% excluding Hamburg Süd, with growth in all business segments and a strategic transformation well underway. A.P. Moller - Maersk reiterates its expectations for 2018 of an underlying profit above 2017 (USD 356m), however noting increased uncertainties due to geopolitical risks, trade tensions and other factors impacting freight rates, bunker prices and rate of exchange.

"In the first quarter of 2018, we reported a 30% revenue growth and the integration of the business is well underway with a successful start to the Hamburg Süd integration and the closing of Maersk Oil transaction in March with an accounting gain of USD 2.6bn. At the same time, on the short-term performance, our result especially in the ocean related part of the business was unsatisfactory. In response to the current challenging market conditions we are implementing a number of short-term initiatives to improve profitability and we reiterate our guidance for 2018," says Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller - Maersk.

Reporting in new segments

A new financial reporting structure is implemented from Q1 2018 to support the strategic direction towards becoming the global integrator of container logistics. The four new business segments (Ocean, Logistics & Services, Terminals & Towage and Manufacturing & Others) are aligned with the strategic focus on growing the non-ocean part of the business disproportionally to the ocean.

Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller - Maersk explains:

"The new format reflects that we are an integrated global container transport and logistics business focusing on our customers' value chains, and it allows us to follow our progress, particularly in those parts of the business which are not purely ocean freight, which we need to grow in order to minimise the cyclical part of our business."

Earnings before interests, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 5% to USD 669m, negatively impacted by adverse rate of exchange development compared to same period last year of around net USD 100m. Earnings in Ocean of USD 492m was impacted by higher unit costs among others due to adverse developments in bunker price and rate of exchange. For the non-Ocean businesses, the higher volumes in Terminals & Towage led to an improvement in EBITDA from USD 139m to USD 196m, while Logistics & Services reported slightly lower EBITDA of USD 23m from USD 32m.

The underlying result after financial items and tax of negative USD 239m was unsatisfactory. A number of short-term initiatives are being implemented to improve profitability.